Good Magazine Not So Good To SXSW Attendees

We’ve fully supported the new magazine Good in both mission and execution. They use lots of designers, they support design-friendly causes and they have some pretty solid writing, too. It was enough to get one of us to even subscribe. But last night’s Good-sponsored party at SXSW left more than one festival goer feeling pretty bad.

Here’s how it went down. The party was supposedly only for Good subscribers, something they’ve done in NY and LA before. You pay $20 for a one-year subscription, you RSVP, you get a nice note back. But yesterday we get another email saying this:

Also, please feel free to spread the word. If 200 people subscribe & choose Creative Commons, Six Apart will donate an additional $2000 to CC. So bring your friends and let’s have an amazing time.

So we told all of our friends to go, thinking Good had changed its mind about the subscriber-only plan and said come one, come all instead. When people got to the door, they were told that it was $20 to get in. Sure, this would get you a one-year subscription to the magazine, and a night of possibly dancing with Al Gore Jr., but it was so baffling to those familiar with the spirit of SXSW parties that it caused great confusion. SXSW parties are free. SXSW parties give away free booze in addition to being free. Sure, it was only $20, and sure it was for a good cause, but the idea of being strongarmed into subscribing didn’t float with most people. So lot of people with Good intentions walked right back out the door.

Does anyone pick up on the irony that this was a party co-sponsored by Creative Commons?